Thefts from nursing home trust funds target the elderly

An East Tennessee nursing home is one of thousands accused of stealing or mishandling residents' savings.

By law, nursing homes are required to maintain trust funds for residents who are unable or unwilling to handle their finances. The funds are supposed to work like bank accounts.

A USA Today investigation found more than 15-hundred cases over a decade in which government regulators cited nursing homes for mishandling funds.

According to the paper, an employee at the Marshall Voss Nursing Home in Harriman stole $80-thousand dollars from patient accounts over a 10 to 12 year period. A grand jury indicted Pamela Martin in 2009. She pleaded guilty to felony theft in 2011.